


Blind Dates

by ChillyHollow



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blind Date, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22405570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChillyHollow/pseuds/ChillyHollow
Summary: This one has a happy ending.  Well, it has pizza and that's a happy ending in my book!
Relationships: Romantic - Relationship
Comments: 5
Kudos: 29





	Blind Dates

Robin fidgeted at the bar, waiting for her blind date to arrive.Her friends at work had insisted she try a dating app to socialize again after her divorce.She finally had given in and set up a profile on one that was geared toward finding people to hang out with.She certainly wasn’t ready to hook up with anyone, but she would enjoy finding people to go out to restaurants or movies or museums with. 

She’d discovered Eddie this week.He claimed to be interested in movies and hiking, seemed to like some of the same books she liked, and was a year older than she.This was going to be their first meet up, not exactly a date but not exactly not a date, either.In his profile picture he had longish wavy brown hair and big brown eyes and told her he’d be in a red sweater.She told him she’d be in a long sleeved black dress with tiny pink flowers on it.He was a little late, though.She’d arrived right on time.

Strike frowned and looked at his watch.Stacey was supposed to be here by now.He might as well go inside and get himself a drink while he waited.He’d met her at a party given by mutual friends and asked her out to dinner on a whim.She was a very cute brunette with a nice figure and a bubbly laugh. She’d flirted outrageously with him at Jerry’s party so he thought, why not?He’d not slept with anyone recently and she looked like a fun one night stand.He’d give her a few more minutes while he drank a beer before giving up and heading home to watch football. 

Robin saw a tall dark man in a red sweater enter the restaurant and almost waved before she realized he had shorter hair than Eddie did in his picture and he had to be ten years older than she.Unless Eddie had greatly exaggerated his age and weight and looks, this wasn’t him, red sweater or not.The man was heading toward her, though.Robin gulped and quickly turned away.He came up next to her but didn’t speak, he just asked the bartender for a draft beer.Robin fiddled with her white wine glass and turned a bit to look over her shoulder at the door again.

Nothing.No Eddie.She’d give him a few more minutes before giving up and heading home to watch reruns.Friday night rush hour traffic in London was notorious, after all.She sneaked a look at Not Eddie.He was tall and broad, with a short beard and thick, curly hair.He was sipping his beer and watching the crowd in the mirror. She had the impression he was waiting for someone, too.Well, at least she wasn’t the only one potentially being stood up.She decided to follow his example and people watch using the mirror behind the bar. 

Strike realized that the blonde sipping white wine next to him at the bar was quite a pretty girl, too young for him, of course.He always avoided the young and innocent when it came to sexual partners.The black long sleeved dress she was wearing certainly accentuated her curves and her creamy skin, though.He subtly looked her over appreciatively before turning his eyes back to the mirror, watching for Stacey.Who didn’t appear.

Robin frowned and sneaked a look at her watch.Eddie was five minutes late.She could draw out her white wine for some time, and decided she’d stay a while longer.After all, nothing waited for her at home.Might as well.She looked up into the mirror and met the eyes of Not Eddie.She blushed but she held his gaze.He looked stern and a bit tired, as if it had been a long week.Then he smiled at her and his whole face lit up.She was mesmerized at the transformation.

“Waiting for someone?”he asked.“Yes,”she replied.“Are you waiting, too?”

He nodded.She felt a bit daring after the wine she'd drunk.“Want to wait together?” 

He looked at her and said, “Why not?It beats people watching on our own, doesn’t it?”

Robin smiled.“Have you been watching the couple at the table in the window have a fight?” 

“Oh, yes.I bet you a drink she throws her beer at him in the next fifteen minutes.” 

Robin grinned, “I’m not betting against that.I think it will only take her ten minutes to lose it and chuck that all over him.”

Strike looked at his watch.“It’s 6:06 p.m. So we have until 6:16 or 6:21 to find out just how short a fuse she has.” 

Robin stuck out her hand, “I’m Robin.”

He shook it.“I’m Cormoran.” 

“Nice to meet you, Cormoran.What kind of draft beer is that?”

"Doom Bar.It comes from Sharp’s in Cornwall.Is that a Riesling you are drinking?” 

“Yes, from Chateau Ste Michelle in the Northwestern United States.I’m fond of it and this place is one of the few that sells it in the area.”They both took a sip of their drinks.Robin set hers down.“Is the food good here, Cormoran? I’ve had drinks here but never the food.”

“I don’t know.I’ve never eaten here, either.My date picked the place out.I’m just glad that they have Doom Bar.It’s a favorite of mine.” 

There was a crash from the window.The red head had just dumped her beer on her male companion who had jumped up with an oath, upsetting his own glass.Strike looked at his watch and announced, “6:18.”He and Robin grinned at each other and silently touched their glasses in a mutual toast. 

“Cormy!”The loud voice rang extra loud in Strike’s ears.It was Stacey, here at last.Robin thought he didn’t seem to like the nickname but the newcomer, a brunette with a very nice figure, a pixie cut, and a quite short skirt rushed up and gave him a kiss on the cheek without seeming to notice. 

“Hello, Stacey.This is my friend Robin.”Stacey gave Robin a perfunctory nod and demanded a Cosmo.The bartender was happy to oblige although Robin shuddered a bit at the too red color.It looked like it had been dosed with red food colouring, not cranberry juice. Stacey didn’t seem to mind, however.She gulped half of it right down and then said, smiling, “What have you been up to, Cormy?Wasn't that a great party at Jerry’s?I got really hammered.”To emphasize her enjoyment of alcohol, she finished off the Cosmo and demanded a second.Strike and the bartender obliged. 

Robin didn’t think it was effecting her, unless talking even faster and louder was a symptom of too much alcohol too fast.Stacey was talking a mile a minute, asking about Cormoran’s brother Al, whether he could get them concert tickets for next weekend’s Deadbeats show, if he liked her new haircut, whether they could have dinner at that expensive steakhouse up the road, and—finally noticing Robin—where Robin got that “cute retro outfit although it makes you look like a schoolteacher you know.”Robin didn’t know whether to laugh or be offended.She looked at Strike with a twinkle in her eye and he looked back, almost smiling.Fortunately, Stacey didn’t give Robin—or Strike—time to answer any of her chatter.She just moved on to the latest Netflix horror series she had been watching and the cute Dolly Parton meme taking Instagram by storm.“I’m going to get a t-shirt that says ‘Yes, I’m That Kinda Gal.’She’s so fresh!”

A distraction arrived in the form of Eddie, at last.“Robin?” he asked tentatively, while eyeing Stacey who was now on her third Cosmo.Robin pulled her fascinated eyes off Stacey and focused on the young man in the red sweater standing next to her.He did have dreamy brown eyes and matching brown curls that any girl would love to run her fingers through, but he looked about twenty, not her mature twenty-six. 

“Hi, Eddie,” said Robin.“This is Stacey and Cormoran.”Eddie nodded at the other couple at the bar.Cormoran asked him, “What will you have to drink?”Eddie asked for a whiskey and soda which the bartender happily provided.Robin noticed Eddie didn’t apologize for being a half hour late and he let Cormoran pay for his drink.He was busy talking to Stacey who was finishing her third Cosmo and giggling at something he was saying.Robin looked up and saw Cormoran’s eyes on her.He did a slight eye roll and she smiled. 

Ten minutes later Robin and Cormoran, still unable to get a word in, were sitting next to each other at the bar listening while Eddie and Stacey chatted away about the latest bands, a movie they both wanted to see, and which dance club had the hottest music.Cormoran leaned toward her and whispered, “They’ll dump us and head off in twenty minutes.”Robin shook her head and whispered back, “Fifteen.”Cormoran looked at his watch. 

Eddie was on his second whiskey and soda (a double) and Stacey was starting on her fourth Cosmo while they argued about which was the best TikTok film they’d seen. Stacey was advocating the unicorn colored braid while Eddie liked the one with the shaving cream filled Croc sandal.Cormoran looked at Robin and mouthed, “TikTok?”She grinned back and shook her head with a slight shrug added for emphasis. 

The TikTok argument appeared to be settled by the time the whiskey and the Cosmo had disappeared in favor of a Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund video which featured Lil Nash X covering an old Billy Cyrus song.Eddie slid off the barstool and said, “Let’s blow this joint.”He grabbed Stacey’s hand and they were out the door, without a look back to see if their dates were coming.Cormoran looked at his watch.“You were right.Fifteen minutes.” 

Robin smiled.“I have been timing how fast Stacey sucked back her drink.Do you think it was made with paint?It sure was red.” 

“I have no idea,” Cormoran answered.“But she was wrong.That dress doesn’t make you look like a schoolteacher.It’s more a sexy librarian look.”Robin blushed.“Thanks.” 

“Want to have dinner with me?” Cormoran asked.“There’s a good Italian place with great pizza just down the block.” 

“I’d love to.I need lots of cheese and carbs to recover from being made to feel as if I was 90 years old.” 

Cormoran laughed.“How do you think I feel?I’ve got to be ten years older than you.That makes me over 100.I am going to need expert nursing—and more beer—to recover.”

“Let’s start with pizza and beer. After that, we can discuss the expert nursing.”

Cormoran grinned at her.“Deal.”Leaving their almost finished glasses on the bar, they headed out.Way ahead down the street on the right a young couple were arguing loudly over whether Kim or Kylie was the most fashionable Kardashian.Cormoran and Robin smiled at each other, then turned left and walked side by side down the sidewalk towards the Italian restaurant.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my nieces and nephew for TikTok information.


End file.
